Sleep deprivation: A parent's guide to lack of sleep

Ask any new parent about the realities of parenthood and every one of them will say that suffering from lack of sleep is one of the toughest parts of having a new baby. Not only does sleep deprivation have a huge and immediate impact on how you feel, no sleep, or constantly broken sleep, can make day-to-day life much more difficult to manage. Even the simplest of tasks - like feeding and caring for your baby - can seem impossible when you're lacking sleep.

Effects of sleep deprivation

Our bodies can do no sleep at all for an astonishing small amount of time - the world record is 11 days - and while new parents rarely go without sleep for days on end, the effect of little sleep over months can have a radical impact on their physical and mental health.

Lack of sleep can cause:

Lack of energy

Lower concentration levels and decision making abilities

Headaches and dizziness

Muscle aches

Nausea

Hand tremors

Increased blood pressure

Irritability and mood swings

Memory lapses

Hallucinations

Additionally, sleep deprivation can cause you to either lose weight or gain weight depending on whether you eat more or less when you're tired. Whichever way you swing, lack of sleep does have an impact on the way you eat.

The body also does most of its repair work - particularly to tissue, stress levels and the immune system - while we sleep. When we deprive our bodies of much-needed sleep, our ability to fight off small illnesses is greatly reduced, as is our ability to recover after we've fallen sick.

Coping with lack of sleep

There really is no substitute for a good night's sleep but in the short term, sufferers from lack of sleep often turn to caffeine to keep them alert and awake. While coffee is an effective stimulant - and so will keep you awake - it becomes less effective if consumed routinely. Drinking coffee throughout the day to keep you awake is actually a very ineffective method of staying alert.

On the other hand, taking a 'power nap' can be an effective way to combat sleep deprivation. A power nap is a refreshing short sleep taken during the day - the key to a successful power nap is to wake before you fall into deep sleep (slow-wave sleep) which usually happens about 20 minutes after falling asleep. If you fall into a deep sleep while napping, but wake before you complete the deep sleep cycle, you will wake feeling very groggy and definitely not refreshed!

How much sleep do we really need?

Despite the fact that eight hours is always given as the ideal amount of sleep we, as adults, should get each night, this is an estimate and some people need more or less than that magic number. If you are getting eight hours of sleep every night and are still waking tired, then you have a need for more sleep generally.

Sleep debt

Sleep debt is the difference between the amount of sleep you need each night and the amount of sleep you are actually getting. While catching up on sleep by sleeping in or going to bed earlier than normal does go some way to reducing your sleep debt, most new parents quickly accrue a sleep debt in the first weeks of parenthood that can take months - even years - to reduce.

For new parents, catching up on a sleep debt can become completely overwhelming - just as baby is starting to sleep through the night and you are catching up on that broken sleep - you begin to feel more tired than ever before. With more sleep, you actually begin to feel even more tired.

This is a completely normal reaction to reducing a sleep debt. Recovery sleep needs hours of deep sleep for the brain to do its restorative work and after an uncustomary long sleep, waking feeling exhausted is very normal. Waking in this way will ease as the sleep debt reduces and you begin to establish normal sleep patterns again.

Driving while under the influence of sleepiness

As a new parent, you know that if you want to get out of the house, chances are you're going to have to get behind the wheel of your car with your precious bundle strapped in the backseat. But just how safe is it to drive a car when you're chronically sleep deprived?

Driving a car when tired is similar to driving a car when drunk, experts say. In both instances, reaction times are delayed, decision making is impaired and concentration lapses. Additionally, you are much more prone to micro-sleeps when you are tired and behind the wheel of a vehicle. So while you won't get fined or lose your licence for driving while tired, you are putting your life and that of your precious cargo at risk.